Does the cognitive architecture of simplex and multiplex ASD families differ?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 4, 2026

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
Anoek M Oerlemans1,2, Catharina A Hartman3, Barbara Franke4,5
1Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Anoek.Sluiter-Oerlemans@radboudumc.nl.
Abstract:
Children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their unaffected siblings from 54 simplex (SPX, one individual in the family affected) and 59 multiplex (MPX, two or more individuals affected) families, and 124 controls were assessed on intelligence, social cognition and executive functions. SPX and MPX ASD probands displayed similar cognitive profiles, but within-family contrasts were highest in SPX families, suggesting SPX-MPX stratification may help parse etiological heterogeneity of ASD. Unaffected siblings (regardless SPX or MPX) were mostly unimpaired, suggesting that cognitive problems may be part of the defining features of ASD, rather than being an endophenotypic trait. Except for affective prosody, which appeared to be the most sensitive cognitive marker for detecting familial risk for ASD.
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